In Israel: English Summer Camp
2008
In July 2008, 7 Americans (3 adults and 4 youths) taught classes in English to Deir al Assad schoolchildren for two weeks. We visitors experienced wonderful hospitality—from our host families; from the school principal, teachers, and staff; from the entire village.
The students, 104 boys and girls ages 7 to 13 from Al Ain ("The Spring") Elementary School were bright, enthusiastic, and full of energy. Our curriculum was more English summer camp than school.
English Summer Camp Swim Party, 2009
Children in the English Summer Camp
"Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" was a big hit, as were pictures made with colored tissue-paper, jumping through a ladder stretched on the ground to instructions called out in English, playground soccer, and explanations of American idioms and proverbs. ("Don't buy a pig in a poke" has a Deir al Assad equivalent: "Don't marry a bride from another village.").
2009
In July 2009, another group of 7—some repeaters, some newbies—went back to Deir al Assad for two weeks.
Crafts, 2009
2010
In mid-June 2010, a group of 12 volunteers headed to Israel for the biggest, arguably best English summer camp yet. After staying with Esther and Avraham Hertzog in their lovely house on the Mediterranean for four nights (touring Jerusalem with the amazing guide, Issy Hertzog, who happens to be the son of our hosts) and visiting the Galilee and the Golan for three days guided by a kibbuztnik, the group headed for over two weeks in Deir al Assad.
There were 12 host families, a local committee, two venues—a community center and an elementary school, both with very professional and interested directors—and 300 students welcoming us.
Students in the Summer Camp
The camp this year even had t-shirts and an official name: "The D-D English Summer Camp." D-D stands for Dayton and Deir al Assad, although the volunteers came from places as distant as Wyoming and Minnesota. We had a wonderful two Deir al Assad weeks full of hospitality, humor, communication, and, of course, the occasional raw moment.
I knew the camp was a success when my host family's two young sons broke out singing "Lean on Me" with all the verses and when I heard the word "cuckoo"—as in crazy—being used by Deir al Assad adults. Plans are being made for next summer's camp. We also plan to bring a small group of star students from Deir al Assad to visit Dayton in the coming year.
2011
June 2011 Volunteers
In June 2011, we again we had ten American volunteers working at the English Summer Camp in the village—nine college students and recent graduates and me, the den mother figure. The group again stayed with host families and split up to have "classes" (camp meetings?) in the middle school and three elementary schools. There is no question that the level of English in the Deir al Assad students is improving, and both the students and the volunteers are having wonderful experiences.
In April 2011 we had six star middle-school pupils from the village visit Dayton for two weeks. The students—four girls and two boys—were chosen by an essay contest. All their expenses were paid with donations from Daytonians. The students and their four adult chaperones stayed with host families.
Putt-putt with the group's high school hosts
Deir al Assad students and chaperones, Dayton, Ohio, April 2011
Highlights of the trip included school visits; a tour of the Air Force Museum led by two retired pilots; visiting a display of one of the original Wright Flyer airplanes; and visit to Cincinnati. The group had activities with a church youth group, a synagogue youth group, and a group of high schoolers who raised money take the visitors to an amusement center. The visitors also had lovely home-hosted dinners with local families, and were exposed to the wonders of dogs and owls (considered dirty and bad luck, respectively, in Arab culture). The students were lively and curious and didn't seem homesick at all. Their English impressed everyone and made many Americans—counting myself and my children—feel stupid.
The chaperones, I believe, had a good time, also. There was a big interest in shopping, which I was unprepared for. Live and learn.
- view photos from 2011 Deir al Assad to Dayton »
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A new group of eight students and four chaperones will come to Dayton in April 2012. In Israel, spring break is Passover break.
I do roll my eyes when people comment about this project as "peace-making" and speak of it as if it's all warm and happy and fun. In fact, this project can be a pain. (I think everyone with intimate experience of it would agree.) What has happened through the years is that there's a family feeling to the whole thing.
I think of Jamal and Dalia Assadi as my cousins in Deir al Assad, and other hosts and guests both in Deir al Assad and in Dayton feel as if they have found new relatives. Planning events is therefore a little like arranging a dinner for an extended family. People not invited (second cousins??) are upset, at the last minute Uncle X phones saying he WILL NOT sit near Cousin Y, one guest doesn't want to eat in a room if meat is served, and kids are crawling under the tables and fighting in the corners. But, like many family occasions, it just works out. The people you have sparred and eaten with are, well, family, and the connections and memories are amazing.
And, in the words of my friend and kettlebell partner Steve Coen: "There's no such thing as family fun for everyone."
Read More:
- Lessons in an Arab-Israeli Village, an article my son Simon Jacobs wrote for the Dayton Jewish Observer about the 2010 camp
- Teaching and Learning in an Arab-Israeli Village, an article I wrote for the Dayton Jewish Observer in 2008